Stephen Depiro, a soldier within the Genovese organised crime family, was sentenced to 41 months in prison for extorting payments from fellow dockworkers on the New Jersey waterfront.
He was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release by US district judge Claire Cecchi Newark, New Jersey, on 17 April.
According to court statements and documents filed in the case, Depiro, 59, managed the Genovese family’s control over the New Jersey waterfront for nearly 30 years.
During court proceedings, Depiro and fellow Genovese family associates Albert Cernadas, 79, a former International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) vice president, and ILA representative Nunzio LaGrasso, 64, admitted conspiring to compel “tribute” payments from ILA union members. The payments were made “based on actual and threatened force, violence, and fear”, prosecutors said.
The timing of the extortions typically coincided with the receipt by dockworkers of “container royalty fund” cheques, a form of year-end compensation paid around Christmas.
Cernadas was previously sentenced to probation and LaGrasso was sentenced to 28 months in prison, prosecutors said.
All three had admitted the charges.
This post was sourced from IHS Maritime 360: View the original article here.
